Insane Clown Posse comes to Columbus, OH -- It's a Miracle!

The Insane Clown Posse (comprised of one Violent J and one Shaggy 2 Dope), made news a few weeks ago with their release of Miracles. A religiously motivated song with some overtly anti-science lyrics.

Today, while getting coffee on my way to help with a science education program in central Ohio, I saw the following in an issue of The Lantern about ICP's Sunday concert in Columbus, Ohio.  It was in a piece titled "No reason to be scared of these clowns." 

Most recently, the duo has been placed in the spotlight thanks to the YouTube sensation its most recent music video has become. The video, based on ICP’s single “Miracles,” features the group rapping about the things it finds to be amazing. The use of the word “miracle” has caused most of the strife the duo have received.

“I know that magnets aren’t magic,” Utsler said in reference to the song’s most beleaguered line: “F------ magnets, how do they work?” as he shrugged off online comments and a Saturday Night Live parody. “The song is about appreciating the little things in life, not that we think science is bulls---.”

The article, however, has it wrong.  The release of Miracles earned ICP some nicely executed mockery...

SNL Does ICP.  The real Miracles video and lyrics can be seen here.

...but not because they said the word "miracle" a few dozen times. It was because the song is anti-science and seems to some to be an ode to the God of the Gaps more than anything else.  Furthermore, it was the lyrics following the mention of magnets in the song that were most objectionable/ridiculous...

Fucking magnets, how do they work?
And I don’t wanna talk to a scientist
Y’all motherfuckers lying, and getting me pissed
...

I should pause to admit that I like a lot of music that other people find offensive: dramatized violence, vulgarity, insanely loud or raucous noise used as music -- I tend to like it if it's got a solid bass beat, lots of energy, and a catchy chorus. Yes, even some ICP songs. Take for example one of their more popular songs from a while back - one you'd think would be far more objectionable than Miracles...

Anyway, thanks to the Lantern article getting it wrong, I finally realized why Miracles seems to bother people more than Fuck the World -- or at least more than I would have expected.  Over a decade ago, in the late 90s, Spin magazine ran a four page cartoon mocking ICP, and apparently claimed...

"ICP is offensive not for their obscenity, but for their stupidity."

This actually makes some sense: Obscene is tolerable, but willfully ignorant?  Less tolerable.  Miracles seems embrace mystery and ignorance for the sake of mystery alone, and not out of any deeper appreciation for magnets, stars, plants, rainbows, giraffes, crows, feeding pelicans fish, etc. 

Fortunately, the article did get one important thing right: whether you like science or hate obscene music, there's certainly no reason to be scared of these clowns.